Editor's note: Editor's
note: This story is part of a series highlighting superlatives of
countries and cities around the world. Click here for pieces on Italy, France, the United States, Canada, Taiwan, India and South Korea, and watch for upcoming installments featuring other countries.

Hong Kong -- with an
intentional homicide rate of 0.2 per 100,000 people in the last 16 years
-- only lost out to Monaco and Palau, where there have been zero
recorded murders.

When you consider that
Hong Kong has a population of more than 7 million crammed into a city of
1,104 square kilometers, while Monaco only has about 36,000 people and
idyllic island nation Palau about 20,000, Hong Kong definitely triumphs
as the safest city in the world.

3. Getting you there

Hong Kong is really good at getting you where you need to go.

The public transportation system is famous around the world for its efficiency and profitability, making Hong Kong one of the least car-dependent cities, with only about 710,000 registered vehicles.

In particular, the MTR
Corporation that operates Hong Kong's subway system is so good at what
they do they run other city's trains as well, including operating
sections of subway lines in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, London and the
whole of Melbourne and Stockholm's underground networks.

4. Building into the sky

When you've got a heck of a lot of people and very little land, what do you do?

Hong Kong's solution is to stack them up on top of each other, inside tall buildings.

There's the bamboo-like
Bank of China by renowned architect I.M. Pei and the 490-meter
International Commerce Centre (Hong Kong's tallest), the latter of which
will become a gigantic art piece at the hands of sound artist Carsten
Nicolai during Art Basel Hong Kong 2014.

One of the most impressive sites for Hong Kong visitors is the airport.

Most love the
efficiency, the fast connection to the city through the Airport Express,
and the frequent traveler system that allows jet setters to use a fast
lane through immigration.

The airport is one of
the most lauded in the world, winning nearly 40 awards from
international operations since it opened in 1998 and ranking atop
Skytrax's World's Best Airport list for eight years in a row.

Sure, it's recently been toppled from the throne by Singapore's Changi Airport.

First time visitors to
Hong Kong's party area, Lan Kwai Fong, might think they've entered a
time warp, suddenly appearing in Ibiza or Cancun at 9 p.m. on a Friday
night.

The area crams more than
100 bars, restaurants, clubs and shops into just a few short streets
(and in the high-rises along the streets), which themselves are nearly
always crammed with expats, flight attendants and other 9-to-5 refugees.